Here are some pics of my proven breeding trio...

Male...aka "Big Boy"
(Sorry, I don't name my fish very often...sometimes I think it jinx's the fish...weird superstition...)









Smaller female (aka "new girl")



Larger Female aka "old girl"

they're sweet looking fish mate, you've done a good job.

yes indeeed very nice fish :rockon:

Thanks guys...I have f1 juvenile from the trio that are now ready for sale....Pick up only as they can be sensitive shippers....

Seedy, I find that you are extremely knowledgeable about tanganyikan cichlids. I have a lake malawi tank but am quite intrigued by the tangs and plan to set up that style tank in the future. Maybe you can answer some of my questions in regards to this setup.
1) How large to calvus get? How many should you keep in say a 70 gallon tang community tank? these are some of my favorite fish and i would love to have them someday, i love the color of yours.
2)In your tank do you tend to go with your own setup or a biotope from the lake itself? I was reading about tanganyika cichlids in aquarium fish magazine, and they talked about setting up biotopes given on what fish you plan on keeping.
3.)How large do those eels get?
4.)In regards to your breeding success.....were you trying to get them to breed or did it just happen?
5.) Were have you learned most about these fish? :sick:

Thanks for the compliments Flood!

1)Male calvus max out around 5inches, females around 3-4..."comps" get a little bit bigger than calvus...maybe 6-7 inches MAX...

You could very easily keep a breeding trio of calvus in a 70gallon

2)Yes, I go for biotypes in Tang tanks. The idea is to fill all the "niches" in the tank...check out the Tanganyika pinned topic for more info on that...

3)I believe those eels can reach 2 feet...

4)My goal in setting up the tank and getting the F0 calvus was to breed. So no, it wasn't an accident. I provided narrow breeding caves (shells in this case) and had 1 male to 2 females, fed them a very high protien diet containing much mysis, krill and baby fish....and they did all the rest!

5) I have learned the most about A.calvus from FINZ who is a moderator at Cichlid Forums....He really helped me out. Google will come up with some decent references too.....also, anything by Konigs or Stuart Grant or Leif DeMason will be good info.

Thanks for that info. Not to be annoying but i have more questions now. lol.
1.) What size tank do you run your tangs in?
2.) What exactly does the F0, thing mean, i have read this before on purchase lists and such and i assumed it to be some sort of breed thing.
3.)Do you have a photo of your entire tank?
4.) and sorry if you have this somewhere else but are the calvus very aggressive?

Flood, I wouldn't be here if I didn't like talking about fish! You're not annoying at all! I'm stoked your interested in "tangs"!

1)My calvus are in a 3ft , 40gallon "breeder" tank.
-this is smaller than I would recommend for Cyprichromes
-The eel WILL outgrow this tank
-a 20gallon long could be used to house a breeding pair of most smaller Neolamp and lamp species

2)We here in the hobby have kinda stole the nomenclature of geneticists...in a genetic cross, the parents are the f0 generation the progeny are f1, the progenies offspring would be f2...and so on...

We in the cichlid hobby have "borrowed" these terms, and f0 generally refers to wild-caught fish while f1 would be the first generation bred out of the lake (the offspring of the wild parents)...generrally, anything greater than f1 is referred to as "tank raised"...

3)The tank on top is the 40gallon breeder, the tank bellow is a 20g "tall" that houses a quartet of N. multifasciatus


4)Calvus are fairly peaceful for cichlids....They tend to be shy and are not usually aggressive feeders...The will establish and defend a small territory when breeding, however mine have never killed another tank mate...Males are extremely hard on fellow males, and housing more than one male in a normal sized tank is not recomended...Males can also be rough on females when spawning and it's best to keep an eye on them...

with that said....an adult calvus is fairly bombproof when it comes to more aggressive fish....they have extremely sharp hard scales that they flare out towards aggressive fish. The scales are tough enough that other cichlids will injure their lips on the scales before the calvus gets injured....They also have a wonderful knack for wedging themselves into small tight openings where they are safe from attack...

Those are expensive little guys, but beutiful

very nice

For some reason I have never gotten interested in breeding fish. I have been in the hobby for like 12 years, and I just never bothered with it. I had a pair of angelfish that laid eggs a few times but nothing resulted from it and I also had guppies that bred a long time ago, not like thats a challenge or anything.
Anyway, I am not planning on starting a tanganyika tank until I move out on my own. I currently live with my dad and am running my 70 gallon malawi tank and my 45 high planted. I wish I could start that tang tank now but there just isnt the time or money. But thank you for the information you gave as it will seriously be useful to me very soon. My ideal situation is that i want to purchase a very large tank like 180 gallons or so and run a tanganyika tank. I would like to keep the calvus, some leulupi, brichardi, and those cyprichromis leptosoma. It will be a gorgeous tank. I also really like those goby cichlids and plan to try them someday. Thanks again for the notes. :nod:

Updated pics:

He's beautiful! :wub:

Gorgeous mate, absolutely gorgeous.... I am soo jealous! :wow:

lovely fish mate :clap:

Thanks people!

Very nice indeed :clap:

i think I'm gonna get a trio of Black Calvus soon. Very nice white ones thoguh!!!

omfg :jaw: they look awesome! are they harder than malawi to keep?

great to see an update on here from you seedy, i havent been on in a while. The calvus look fantastic. wouldnt expect anything less!

Thanks all....Yes, they are a bit more sensative to changes in their enviornment(pH, temp, etc) than your typical cichlid....but if you can maintain a stable enviornment for them, they aren't too dificult to keep. Their fry, however are notoriosly sensative to water quality...

Due to their slow growth rates, full sized adults (usually wild caught) aren't cheap to come by...but f1 fry and juveniles are fairly reasonable in price ~$15-20USD (or less through fish clubs) and will make a long time pet. They typically live 10+ years....and don't reach sexual maturity untill around two years...but they have great personality and I highly recomend them.

Here's some pics of the two fry/juveniles I have kept from their broods....(the rest got sold/traded),,,they are maybe 3/4 on an inch long...

Hey Seedy,
Your adults are looking impressive, as always.

Great looking Seedy!

Seedy the bigger they grow the better they look! Very nice :D